Main content

Free Health Care for All

The birth of the British health service; Thalidomide on trial; the first bike-sharing scheme; discovering a baby woolly mammoth and the great science-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov

The birth of the British health service in 1948; the battle for compensation over Thalidomide; the world's first bicycle-sharing scheme; discovering a perfectly-formed frozen baby mammoth in Siberia, and the great science-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov.

Photo: Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, meeting a patient at Papworth Village Hospital after the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948 (Edward G Malindine/Getty Images)

Available now

50 minutes

Last on

Sun 3 Jun 201823:06GMT
BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only

More episodes

Previous

The Fall of Suharto in Indonesia

Next

The 1968 Belgrade Student Revolt

See all episodes from The History Hour

Broadcasts

  • Sun 3 Jun 201821:06GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 3 Jun 201823:06GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only

Podcast